The Minister of Lands , housing and urban development , Ms. Judih Nabakooba has underscored the importance of securing the citizens’ land rights by acquiring legal land documentation such as certificates of ownership and certificates of occupancy noting that it has a positive impact on agricultural productivity and income.
“With such land registration opportunities, families have moved from the subsistence economy into the market economy as they have been able to use their certificates to generate income for themselves, Nabakooba stated adding that the majority of citizens who benefit from these interventions are women and children.
“The fact that their names appear on the customary land titles or certificates of occupancy guarantees them a future where no one can unscrupulously or illegally evict them from the family land they use to derive their livelihoods,” The Minister noted .
Nabakooba was delivering a keynote address during the international knowledge exchange workshop on secure land rights – learning, collaboration and practice -held at imperial golfview hotel in Entebbe.
The conference has brought together experts from other government’s and development partners from over 16 countries working in the land sector to share successful experiences, case stories, studies and best practices to be used in defining a way forward in land governance.
Nabakooba told the conference that security of ownership of land in Uganda has led to reduced gender-based violence within families with women being recognized and respected in their own right as women, regardless of their level of education; as long as they contribute to economic empowerment of their homes.
“With the integration of social inclusive land rights documentation using pro-poor technologies for mapping land parcels, conflicts are now resolved scientifically using GPS coordinates, other than through primitive methods which included panga hacking, which used to result in death, injury and imprisonment of families involved in land conflicts,”she said.
Government’s involvement during the implementation process has ensured harmonious relations and upholding property rights and obligations of both tenants and landlords in the case of mailo-land.
The Minister said that the shared partnerships between government and other non- state implementing partners has helped to built the capacities of government and non-government institutions to ensure professional skilling and programming. “This is critical in ensuring continuity of the land tenure security project benefits in other areas as government rolls out the pilot interventions,” She added
On behalf of government Nabakooba thanked the organizers of the Global Programme “Responsible Land Policy” and the Global Programme “Strengthening Advisory Capacities for Land Governance in Africa” for providing a forum and bringing together different stakeholders to support the implementation of Land Policies in Africa and the world at large.
She said that the government and GIZ mailo project undertaken in the districts of Mityana, Mubende, Kasanda and Gomba districts has helped resolve the landlord-tenant impasse through the promotion of co-existence between landlords and tenants for enhanced security of tenure for our people and engagement in productive agriculture.
Back ground
In Uganda, land still remains one of the factors of production on which our people derive their livelihood. The majority of our population provides the agricultural labour force. 80% of these are women, while 55% are youth.
Studies have also shown, that good land governance increases access to land, access to improved land resources, increased production by farmers and increased income earnings thus leading to economic development and reduction of poverty which links with Uganda’s Vision 2040 of “A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years.”
